McDowell Wins National 100 at East Alabama
By Jay Vaquer

Phenix City, ALA - November 5, 2006 - The 32nd Annual National 100 at East Alabama Motor Speedway, like a fine wine, just keeps getting better and better with age. This year's 4 day event with nine divisions, culminated the 2006 racing season with one of most spectacular Super Late Model events ever. When track specialist and CEO Billy Thomas decided to cut a steeper angle on the banks of the 3/8 mile clay oval, he expected more competition on the upper grooves. However, he, along with the thousands of fans and hundreds of drivers, was pleasantly surprised at the increase in track speeds. Forthwith unheard of, nine of the top ten Super Late Model qualifiers broke the 15 second barrier while the track's record of 14.52, held by 8 time champion Scott Bloomquist was broken twice. Shane Clanton of Locust Grove, GA turned in a 14.51 and Chris Madden, from Gaffney, SC set the new track record and won the pole for the feature with a blistering 14.48 second lap. As a full moon rose in the clear Alabama sky, the green flag dropped on the main event. Madden fired first but was slow getting out of the gates as Clanton took the lead going into turn one and Dale McDowell followed him around Madden to take second place. The full field of 26 cars shook the earth as they unleashed the thousands of horsepower down the front straight. Clint Smith, Brandon Register, and Scott Bloomquist ran three wide through turns 2, 3 and 4. By lap 4 Clanton and McDowell were putting a lap on Mike Head. When they came up on Ronnie Martin, who was off the pace, Clanton and William Thomas bumped briefly which caused Martin to spin to a stop bringing out the yellow flag caution. Clanton sustained minor body damage and lined back up at the lead for the Alabama double file restart. This time Madden outran McDowell to turn one to take the second place spot. Bloomquist, who started in 22nd because he arrived on Sunday, missing the qualifying on Saturday night, but dramatically went from last to first in the consi-race Sunday morning, was on a run as he passed Dennis Erb, JR from Carpentersville, IL to move into 15th. Ronnie Johnson, the Chattanooga Flash, shot by Jake Knowles as he was also coming to the front. Just as Clanton hit the lap traffic, Dewayne Johnson lost power and coasted to a stop in turn two to bring out the lap 14 caution flag. Mike Head and Dewayne Johnson rolled into the pits as the green was back out. Local hero Dana Eiland fired in turn three and broke in turn four spinning to a stop bringing the caution back out and he rolled into the pits smoking. The green was back out and former National 100 champion Randle Chupp, from Troutman, NC sped past Johnny Cloer,JR and now had to do battle with the Flash. As if this wasn't enough excitement, Clint Cat Daddy Smith and Bloomquist were going at it door to door for the eleventh spot. The crowd got a chance to breathe when Jack Pennington broke to bring out the lap 30 caution. William Thomas dove into the pits with a flat during this caution. On this restart Cloer spun out in turn 2 and collided with incumbent Champ Rick Eckert. Eckert slipped away but Cloer blocked the track and the melee ensued as they piled up behind him. Ronnie Johnson got t-boned hard. Eric Jacobsen, who came all the way from Santa Cruz, California for the event spun to a stop with the Flash. With some many cars involved the red flag was displayed while the ambulance attended the Flash, who appeared to have suffered a fractured arm. Johnson walked to the ambulance and was whisked away to the trauma center for x-rays and most all of the cars went to the pits. Unfortunately, Johnny Cloer and team mate Clint Cat Daddy Smith's cars were both pronounced DOA in the pits and forced into early retirement with DNFs. Only 16 cars were able to respond to the green flag and Shane Clanton was still in the lead and dominating. Clanton and Madden pulled away from McDowell and Eckert running third and fourth who were pulling away from the rest of the field. William Thomas fired his afterburners on his JW Miller Land and Timber Rocket chassis Monte Carlo and blasted by John Blankenship of Williamson, WV on lap 38 to move into 13th. Ricky Williams was trying to hang with Thomas but has having trouble getting around Blankenship. On lap 42, Clanton and Madden put a lap on Jacobson as they were still turning in 15- second laps. Scott Bloomquist was unsuccessfully working his psychology on Chupp looking for a pass when William Thomas caught up with Bloomer and was waiting for an opportunity to pass them both. Clanton hit the lap traffic again and all the leaders bunched up behind him. Then Jake Knowles went off the backstretch and brought out a yellow. Knowles, Vic Hill, and Terrence Nowell all went to the pits. Then Madden had a flat and had to go to the pits and the line up shifted. The leaders, in order, were Clanton, McDowell, Eckert, Steve Francis from Ashland, KY, Petey Ivy, Erb, Chupp, and Bloomquist. Clanton and McDowell distanced themselves from the pack. Then the moonlight madness began having its weird effect on the racers as Ivey had a flat and went to the pits. Then Jacobson's left rear tire was about to wobble off and he went to the pits. At lap 58 the top ten contenders were; Clanton, McDowell, Eckert, Francis, Erb, Chupp, Bloomquist, Thomas, Williams, and Knowles. The green flag was out and Francis, Thomas, and Chupp found themselves three wide. Madden, who was coming back from the rear found out it was no picnic trying to pass Ricky Williams who was still trying to pass Thomas. Then on lap 67 Williams went to the inside of Thomas and made the pass. When Madden followed him past in turn 4 it was obvious Thomas had developed a mechanical problem. Chupp also slowed to a stop in the groove and brought out the yellow. He went to the pits, changed a tire and came back out for the restart. Bloomquist got a great restart and powered his way into 4th at lap 71. Now Eckert had a rear view mirror full of the number 0 barreling down on him. Hill put a pass on Chupp to move into 7th place on lap 75, which was the cut off point for the Alabama Double File restart. Now all restarts would be single file. Clanton, McDowell, Eckert, and Blooquist seemed to run even faster as they stretched out a full straight-away from Williams in fifth. Bloomquist caught up with Eckert and was getting on the inside in the turns but Eckert was great off the corners and escaped down the straights. Suddenly Francis had a flat and spun off the back to bring out a caution on lap 89. On the single file restart Ivey was charging hard and bumped into Thomas which forced Nowell off the track and the yellow was back out. Ivey was sent to the rear of the cars on the lead lap and the green was back out. As they reached turn one Nowell did a bump and run on Thomas and passed only to find himself off the back stretch and then stuck on the top of turn three. During this caution the full moon lunacy was getting stronger. Suddenly Vic Hill ran out of fuel and coasted to a stop. A wrecker pushed Nowell off the top of turn three and he fired off and seemed fine. Then Knowles rolled into the pits seemingly out of fuel. Thomas's left front wheel seemed to be coming off, like a broken shock or suspension part and he rolled into the pits. Unbelievably, Shane Clanton's left rear wheel came off in turn four and he went to the pits. After changing the tire his engine would not fire as he was out of gas. He jumped out of his race car and stormed around realizing that after leading all of 93 laps, his bid for victory was over. Then Randle Chupp's wheel flew off in turn one- all this under caution was too much and since Chupp had turn one blocked with the wrecker the race was red flagged, again. But the full moon was not finished as Nowell suddenly ran out of fuel and coasted into the pits and Ricky Williams also went to the pits. When the remaining cars stopped on the front stretch the crew members started running out on the track with gas cans and air tanks and it was like a mad house trying to re-establish order. When things were about to go green again Jake Knowles rolled into the pits. Finally, lights out, green flag, and McDowell is in the lead with Eckert second and Bloomquist third. Then, with 5 laps to go, another caution fell when Vic Hill drove up the track and hit Nowell knocking him off the track. The race director made a prudent call and put both cars back where they were and went green. McDowell ran the fastest laps of his life to get to the checkers and claim the $30,000 to win, the beautiful six-foot trophy, and the honor of becoming the 32nd National 100 Champion. Rick Eckert picked up a sporty $10,000 for second place. Scott Bloomquist finished third, Chris Madden fourth, Dennis Erb JR fifth, Steve Francis sixth, Terrance Nowell seventh, Vic Hill eighth, Randle Chupp ninth, Petey Ivy tenth, and rookie William Thomas rounded out the top eleven in eleventh.